Amazon is currently selling the Oppo Find 7, a rather good QHD display smartphone, for only £310 in the UK until the end of the day, complete with free delivery.

The Find 7 originally went on sale in Europe back on December 17th. The 16GB variant initially cost £319, while 32GB of storage brought the price up to £379. The current offer works out to a £69 or 18 percent saving.

There are four different options available for purchase. One with 16GB of internal memory costs £319, while 32GB of storage brings the price up to £379. Both memory variants are available in your choice of either Astro Black or White at no extra cost. Interestingly, this makes the Find 7 slightly more expensive than the similarly specced LG G3.

The Oppo Find 7 is due for a UK release on December 17th and can be order through Amazon Prime for super-fast delivery. If you would like a closer look at the Oppo Find 7, you can find our full review right here.

Source: Amazon;]]>http://www.androidauthority.com/oppo-find-7-amazon-uk-572082/feed/3Best Oppo Find 7 Caseshttp://www.androidauthority.com/best-oppo-find-7-a-cases-537646/
http://www.androidauthority.com/best-oppo-find-7-a-cases-537646/#commentsMon, 20 Oct 2014 19:26:42 +0000http://www.androidauthority.com/?p=537646The current Oppo flagships are available in two variations, the Oppo Find 7A and the Find 7. While the former boasts specifications and features that are at par with all current Android flagships, the Find 7 takes things to another level, being one of the first smartphones to boast a Quad HD display. A good camera, very useful fast-charging capabilities, and significantly cheaper price point, regardless of which version you choose, are features that make both these versions stand out in the crowd.

With our increasing dependency on our smartphones, it’s of course very important to keep our devices safe, especially when it comes to unpredictable bumps and drops. To help you out, we’ve rounded up some of the best protective cases and covers for the Oppo Find 7!

Nillkin Frosted Shield Hard Cover OPPO Find 7 Case

The Frosted Shield Hard case by Nillkin features imported environmental polycarbonate (PC) materials. It is constructed by high precision injection molding machine on a high temperature process, making the case very durable and will last long. It uses the innovative dustless matte ultraviolet (UV) painting technology to give an elegant look on the case. The case has a rigid construction so it won't break into pieces. All ports and buttons are precisely cut for your convenience. The case also features dust-proof, anti-fingerprint, anti-scratch, wear-resistant, anti-skidding design. The design is very elegant and ultra slim the compliments the slimness of the OPPO Find 7 Smartphone.

Nillkin Fresh Smart Quick View Oppo Find 7 Leather Flip Cover

The Nillkin flip cover cases combines protection and function in a finely built PU leather material that resists dirt, stains and is easy to clean.. The smart view case will display functions in the small window on the front, no need to open the case. All placements are perfectly placed to fit your Oppo Find 7 like a glove and give you access to all ports. Made by Nillkin, a trusted case manufacturer brand that has developed cases for all the major smartphone manufacturers.

Kroo Universal Unisex Bi-fold OPPO Find 7 Wallet case

The UniSex Bi-fold wallet case for the Oppo Find 7 has a dual purpose. The case acts like a wallet that you can carry your belongings in 1 secure location. There are four card / ID slots along with a side pocket to fit money, receipts or checks. One side of the wallet is made to fit a mobile phone or an mp3 player, the phone compartment is universal. The case is made of high-quality polyurethane (PU) leather exterior material and the interior is made of soft suede-like material for additional protection and will not scratch the finish of your phone. The wallet features a small, touchscreen plastic on the front. This allows you to check time or information located on the top of your device. This universal bi-fold wallet is made with magnetic closure to keep your belongings secured.

DAYJOY Elegant Side Flip OPPO Find 7 Leather Case Cover

This Elegant Side Flip Leather case for the OPPO Find 7 designed by DayJoy is made with imported polyurethane (PU) leather and mixed polycarbonate (PC) clamshell design. The structural design has a view window that can be useful without having to flip the cover to answer the phone. You can easily check the time and other functions such as main apps available for your phone, hassle free. The case is slim, but still protects your smartphone from scratches, sudden bumps and dents. All ports and buttons are precisely cut for your convenience. It features a variety of colors to choose from.

YeBu Ultra thin OPPO Find 7 Case Cover

This Ultra Thin Case cover by Yebu is specifically designed for the OPPO Find 7. It is made with with flexible, high-quality polycarbonate (PC) material to withstand scratches, dents and scuffs. It features a matte texture on the external to prevent your smartphone from sliding on flat surfaces or slipping through your hands. Easy access to all buttons, controls and ports without having to remove the case. The package comes with a durable screen protector to ensure the screen is well protected. The case comes with a variety of colors to choose from. This case is very thin that it compliments the phone as if the case is part of it. Slim design, yet durable.

IVSO Super Matte Shield Cover OPPO Find 7 Case

This Super Matte Shield Cover case for the OPPO Find 7 by IVSO is a high quality case made of high-grade, durable and eco-friendly polycarbonate (PC) material. It is constructed using the innovative matte ultraviolet (UV) injection process for a more comfortable texture. It is also designed to prevent your smartphone from sudden impact, dust, scratches. The matte body texture has an anti-slip feature that prevents your smartphone from sliding through flat surface or from your hands. The case features a play-through design which enable total access to all of the device generation control buttons. All ports and buttons are precisely cut for your convenience.

Forester Baseus Folio Stand Cover OPPO Find 7 Case

This Forester Folio stand cover by Baseus is made with imported and high-grade polyurethane (PU) leather, a polycarbonate (PC) material and Nappa material for that pearly shine luster, this unique material is comfortable in the hand. The inner material used is smooth, protecting your phone from scratch. Its ports and buttons are cut precisely for your convenience. It comes with card holder as well, so you can bring with you your credit card/ID or money. You can enjoy viewing video in a landscape mode at your convenience. The package comes with two gifts, a 'forester' Sports wrist band (random color) and a 'forester' Cleaning cloth. It comes with different colors as well.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the new big name in the supersize smartphone market segment, but there are several other worthy competitors already, or soon to be, in the market too.

We’re going to look at the best new 5.5 inch and above smartphones in the business, and decide which is the most feature packed for your money. Our contestants are: the 5.5 inch LG G3, the similarly sized Oppo Find 7, the colossal 6 inch Huawei Ascend Mate 7, and Android’s first 64-bit smartphone – the 5.5 inch Desire 820.

Let’s start with the biggest feature in this category – the display.

With all that extra screen real estate, supersize smartphones benefit the most from a higher resolution display. For that extra sharp image, 2560×1440 is quickly becoming the new standard in this tier of the market. However, in reality the difference between 1440p and last generation’s 1080p is less pronounced than the jump in pixels per inch would suggest.

If you are looking for that notch up in image clarity, or fancy playing back some higher resolution content on your large smartphone display, then the Galaxy Note 4, LG G3, and Oppo Find 7 are probably your best choices. The Ascend Mate 7 fits in nicely with some of last year’s larger devices, as far as PPI goes, while the Desire 820’s 720p display will show a noticeable drop in clarity compared with these other models.

Bezels are slimmer this time around too, with smartphones pushing past the 85% mark.

At the same time that display resolution has been growing, bezel sizes have been shrinking. Huawei’s Ascend Mate 7 has even managed to surpass LG G3’s impressively slim design, and takes its place as the handset with the highest display to bezel ratio. The Note 4 has also made a remarkable improvement over the Note 3 in this regard, from 75 to 84 percent in a single generation. As a result, all of these handsets are incredibly sleek in appearance.

Of course there’s more to a smartphone display than just pixel counting. The type of display technology used plays a huge part in the reproduction of colors. Huawei and LG have been touting the improved blacks available with their new LCD displays, but Samsung’s Super AMOLED display in the new Note 4 handsets are the best at accurately reproducing colors, according to detailed a Display Mate test.

While all of the manufacturers have improved their displays this time around, Samsung continues to keep its nose out in front in this category. Round 1 goes to the Note 4.

Peeking under the hood

The Galaxy Note series is also well known for its high-end internal hardware, and this year’s offering doesn’t disappoint. Here’s a breakdown of the key components:

There are two 64-bit SoC’s making a debut in our line-up; the Exynos 5433 in Asia, and the HTC Desire 820 in a slightly wider range of markets.

The two versions of the Galaxy Note 4 will both offer up suitable CPU performance for high-end Android applications, and the Exynos 5433’s Cortex-A57 high performance CPU cores give it an extra boost above the pack. But the more important development in the Snapdragon 805 and Exynos 5433 SoCs is the more powerful GPUs. The 1440p display resolution in these devices is going to put a lot more stress on the GPU when gaming.

The Snapdragon 805’s Adreno 420 offers around 40 percent higher performance than the Snapdragon 801’s Adreno 330, which makes the Galaxy Note 4 a nippier performer in certain applications than the G3, Find 7, and other Snapdragon 800 powered devices like the OnePlus One. The ARM Mali-T760 in the Exynos version offers up a marginal improvement over the Adreno 420’s performance too.

The HTC Desire 820’s 64-bit processor is the weakest of the pack, both CPU and GPU wise. The Snapdragon 615 offers eight energy efficient Cortex-A53 cores, compared with the Note 4’s 4-by-4 Cortex-A57 and A53 design. The CPU performance is still good, but the Adreno 405 GPU is the real weak link here. Fortunately, the lower 720p resolution display in the Desire 820 will make performance more acceptable, at the expense of some image quality.

Huawei’s Ascend Mate 7 is an interesting piece of kit, featuring an in-house designed Kirin 925 SoC and a whopping 4100mAh battery. It features four 1.8GHz Cortex-A15s and four low power Cortex-A7 cores in a big.LITTLE configuration, along with a Mali-T628 GPU. The GPU doesn’t quite push out the same performance as the Adreno 330, making this a slightly less powerful solution. However, the Mate 7’s lower resolution display should keep performance pretty much on par with the likes of the LG G3 while gaming.

Features Galore

While memory configurations and storage options are pretty constant across the range of devices, each smartphone has its own unique perks, which may sway your choice.

Each of the phones features a high resolution rear facing camera, but the best results are somewhat subjective. In our hands on time we found that the Galaxy Note 4 and LG G3 came out slightly on top in the widest range of scenarios.

The Note 4’s stylus is a nice touch that isn’t included with the other options, as is the fingerprint scanner. The Mate 7 also features a fingerprint scanner, and a few other interesting features. The unique SoC allows for the use of a hybrid SD/nanoSIM tray, which can be used to turn the phone into a dual SIM device or further expand the handset’s storage. The combination of a big.LITTLE SoC and huge battery means that the Mate 7 can last two days even under heavy usage, according to Huawei.

The Verdict

On balance, the price tag of each device pretty much reflects where they stand. The Galaxy Note 4 just about edges out every other device on the hardware front, but has a rather hefty price tag to match. Flagship smartphones like the LG G3, Oppo Find 7, and even the OnePlus One, offer up a plenty of high-end features in a large screen device at a slightly more reasonable price. None of which will disapoint.

The Huawei Mate 7 doesn’t feature a full range of ultra high end components, but is a really excellent choice considering that it costs less than the other big names. The Mate 7 has the right components where it counts, and also has the largest display size of the bunch, which sets it apart from the pack of 5.5 inchers, and the huge battery is a major point in this handset’s favour.

Despite not managing to keep pace with the other flagships, the HTC Desire 820 is a great budget option for those looking for a larger device for browsing the web, watching videos, and taking snaps. I wouldn’t recommend the 64-bit SoC for heavy duty gamers, but the chip boasts solid CPU performance and will be future proofed with the upcoming 64-bit Android-L update.

If you pressed me for a decision: the Note 4 redefines the high-end again and is clearly the best you can buy, but the Ascend Mate 7 is worthy of a very honourable mention due to its tremendous value. What are your personal picks in the 5.5 inch plus market?

The Oppo Find7 is a fine offering by the Chinese manufacturer, but the same can be said about its cheaper, only somewhat lesser counterpart – the Find 7a. For the higher price, the Find7‘s Quad HD display is its only true offering but it won’t make sense to most when the cheaper version is highly comparable in overall experience.

The Oppo Find 7a is an astounding smartphone, earning a respectable 8.5/10 score in our earlier review of the device. For those looking for an even more premium experience, however, the Find 7 takes the same design and packs in several improvements including a QHD display. Both devices are now available (though the Find 7 didn’t arrive until quite a bit later), and are separated only by a $100 price difference. The Find 7a goes for $499 while the Find 7 will cost $599.

Do the Oppo Find 7's improvements justify spending the extra $100?

Here’s the big question, though: is the Find 7 worth the $100 premium or is its cheaper sibling the better value? Let’s jump and take a look!

Design

Our views on the Oppo Find 7 do stay parallel with those in our hands-on and first impressions post. The device touts the same awesome design as we see in the 7a, with the only main exception being the back of the device, which is made of carbon fiber instead of brushed metal. Belive it or not, this is actually a downside! As you can see in the image below, the material is deteriorating easily, making for a less than premium experience. The wear and tear seen below showed up only a couple of days into the testing stages.

Both the Find 7 and 7a borrow the same design language we saw on the Find 5. The stunning build quality and steel elements are present, but Oppo has managed to make this device feel a bit better. The weight distribution makes the device appear and feel lighter, despite it being 5 grams heavier.

To summarize: it is a gorgeous device with a build quality that can hold its own against most of the competition.

The gorgeous 5.5-inch panel and capacitive buttons grace the front of the device, matched with an elegant LED light. The sides feature the power button on the left and the volume rocker on the right. To summarize: it is a gorgeous device with a build quality that can hold its own against most of the competition.

Display

Now if we want to talk about the deviations, this is where the Oppo Find 7 differentiates itself from the Find 7a (and from all other smartphones, really). This version of the Oppo Find 7 series comes with a mind-blowing QHD (2560x1440p) resolution that needs to be witnessed in person to understand its superiority. It’s very easy on the eyes and makes images look stunning.

1440p resolution is the new standard in high-resolution mobile displays, with very few competitors matching this specification (the most popular competitor would be the LG G3). Measuring 5.5 inches diagonally, the screen can boast a 532ppi (pixels per inch) resolution.

Now, there is one downside to this amazing screen: the device may just be a bit too large.

Now, there is one downside to this amazing screen: the device may just be a bit too large. While the bezels manage to keep the phone smaller than one would expect for a 5.5-inch smartphone, it still feels relatively large in the hand. Furthermore, the hit on battery life may make this feature less than justifiable.

Performance and hardware

Inside the Oppo Find 7 you will find a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, which offers a good upgrade from the Find 7a’s Snapdragon 800. It’s also more than enough to keep all those minuscule pixels running smooth. And while the denser screen should put a greater tool on the battery, the manufacturer has added a higher-capacity 3,000 mAh battery that keeps the device running for about 12 hours on fair usage.

To sweeten the deal, even if the phone dies, Oppo has implemented an amazing VOOC charging technology that allows the phone to charge from 0% to 75% in just half an hour. Impressive, if you ask us. Further improving the experience, the device comes with a replaceable battery, a feature that is becoming very rare these days.

Those 3 GB of RAM also help keep your apps and multi-tasking experience as smooth as butter. Not to mention, the device’s 32 GB of internal storage are also very generous, and it can be expanded via its microSD slot.

Camera

Turn the device around and you will find what proves to be quite an impressive camera. The device is no slouch in this department, carrying a very capable Sony EXMOR, 13 MP sensor.

My favorite was the ability to shoot in RAW format, but this proved to be more cumbersome as I noticed the sluggish processing time.

The camera software is also far from lackluster, offering features like HDR, scene modes, panorama and your usual nicknacks. Photography enthusiasts will be more excited about a couple unique features this phone offers, though. My favorite was the ability to shoot in RAW mode, but this proved to be more cumbersome as I noticed the sluggish processing time.

The 50 MP shooting mode was a bit faster, but still slow in processing. Regardless, I was glad to see these images turn out surprisingly good. You can see some samples of the 50 MP shooting mode in our dedicated post.

Software

Both Oppo Find 7 devices run on the manufacturer’s Color OS. This could be either good or bad, depending on your preferences. The UI is colorful (.. obviously) and full of features, which we know some of you will deem gimmicky.

A fun feature to test is the gesture panel, which can be pulled out by sliding from the left of the dropdown menu. You can use it to program and launch gestures to perform a number of tasks. Another interesting feature is the ability to double-tap the home button to turn off and wake the device.

Over all, the software manages to stay simple enough on the outside and runs very well. Honestly, all the gimmicks can be easily ignored. The OS is definitely not for everyone, though, especially when considering the factors mentioned above.

Gallery

Pricing and final thoughts

Back to the main question – is this device worth $100 over the Find 7a? Those who value screen resolution will definitely appreciate the boost in pixel density. The slightly better processor, RAM and battery don’t do much to show a significant difference, though. The higher specs may simply not be able to justify the price bump, at least for everyone.

Both devices run fairly well and much of the extra resources are probably eaten up by the power-hungry screen. Regardless, we will have to give this device a score of 8/10, which is actually a bit lower than the Find 7a got. Why? We feel the specs are not completely worth the $100 price bump. If 1080p is more than enough for you, the Oppo Find 7a will be one hell of a phone to have. If you like cases, have a look at our list of the best Oppo Find 7 cases.

While the Oppo Find 7a (1080p screen) went on pre-order April 7th and has been available for a while now, the more powerful QHD model has yet to actually make its way to interested consumers across the globe. The good news is that this is about to change, as the Find 7 is now up for pre-order with the promise of shipping in early July.

The Oppo Find 7 can be pre-ordered in either Astro Black or White, and you have the choice of buying the U.S. model (better Tmo support) or the International version. Both models are priced at $599.

Hot on the heels of the release of CM11 M7, the CyanogenMod team is pushing out CM11 nightlies for more devices. Last week was the Sony Xperia Z2, and now it’s time for the two Chinese wonders that have been in the spotlight lately – the Oppo Find 7a and the OnePlus One.

The Oppo Find 7a normally runs Oppo’s own Color OS implementation, which may be feature rich, but is not exactly the best optimized OS out there. By applying CyanogenMod 11, you essentially get a OnePlus One experience, as the two devices differ relatively little aside of software.

Note that this nightly release is for the 7a version of the device, which features a Full HD display and toned-down specs, compared to the Quad HD Find 7. Because the processor and radio are the same, you may be able to successfully install and run the Find 7a CM11 nightly on the Find 7 as well, but that’s not something we’d recommend, unless you really know what you are doing.

Moving on to the OnePlus One, the device normally runs CM11S, a slightly modified version of CM11, so installing the new nightly may not bring you any benefits. However, having access to CM11 nightlies (and, in the future, Milestone releases) may be helpful for people buying a OnePlus One with Color OS from retailers like Oppomart.

Nightlies are the cutting-edge releases of CyanogenMod, incorporating patches applied over the previous day of work. As such, nightlies give you fast access to the newest features, but at the same time, they are inherently more unstable than Milestone versions, which are considered safe for daily driving. The latest CM11 Milestone currently available is M7, with M8 expected to bring the jump to Android 4.4.3, sometime next month.

The Oppo Find 7 is, for all intents and purposes, one of the most technologically advanced smartphones ever made. It features ultra fast charging which enables it to reach 75% battery life in 30 mins. It’s Find 7 counterpart features a 2560×1440 5.5 inch display. It also packs a 13 megapixel IMX214 Sony sensor with dedicated ISP, Dual-mode LED with an aperture f/2.0, and is capable of grabbing pretty excellent shots under most conditions. Anyway, there’s only so much a post can do to describe its capabilities, so see the attached images and video above with some 100 crops to get a sense of what the camera on the Oppo Find 7a can do.

Over the past couple of years, Oppo has emerged as one of the companies that always ups the ante when it comes to their flagship smartphones, with the recently released Oppo Find 7 one of the first smartphones to offer a Quad HD display. Even its “lesser” version, the Oppo Find 7a, still comes with everything that matches up to most current flagships out there, with its beautiful 5.5-inch 1080p display, premium build quality and feel, top of the line hardware, a fantastic camera, and bright and colourful user interface that might be to everybody’s liking, but is still very functional.

With all things being more or less equal, Oppo still has another trick up its sleeve, which addresses an issue that is increasingly becoming a concern with our smartphones, and that is quite simply – battery life. While most OEMs have come up with innovative ways to extend battery life with ultra power saving modes, Oppo, along with these features, has taken another approach as well, by giving users the ability to be back to full capacity very quickly in case the battery does run out. Here’s a closer at the VOOC Fast Charging that is available with the Oppo Find 7/7a!

Hardware

The VOOC charger, that comes with both the Find 7 and Find 7a, will look a little familiar to you if you own a Macbook, with the charger featuring a similar design. The brick has the integrated wall plug that snaps back into its groove, allowing for a neat and tidy look.

You get the microUSB connector, that plugs into your phone, at the end of the cord. There is a change when it comes to the connector, and that is the inclusion of seven pins, as opposed to the five pins that you’d get with a typical microUSB connector. The two extra pins do contribute to the fast charging capabilities by allowing for more power to be channelled from the power source, but that is only a part of the VOOC fast charging process.

Another point to note is that while most smartphones and tablets have an Amp rating of 1 – 2 Amps with regards to their chargers, which means that 2 Amps is the maximum current the device will draw. The Oppo Find 7 and Find 7A on the other hand, are able to receive much higher current, and on the VOOC charger itself, you’ll see that it can output 4.5 Amps – more than double the typical amperage. This is another factor in providing the huge boost that we get in battery charging times.

One pitfall is the fact that the cord of the charger is actually quite short, which can be a little inconvenient depending on where the plug point is with regards to your desk or side table. As expected, because of those two extra pins in the connector, you won’t be able to use this charger with any other device, but luckily, the other way around is fine, so you will be able to charge your Oppo Find 7 with a regular microUSB cable and charger, without the fast charging of course.

Performance

In very simple terms, the fast charging works, and I think is one of the best features about the Oppo Find 7, and is something that I’ve come to rely upon.

I’m sure we’ll all been in a situation at some point or the other where we’ve woken up to the horrifying realization that you’d forgotten to plug in your phone to charge the night before, only to wake up to a measly 5% left, if it hasn’t already turned off completely by then. Assuming you then put the phone to charge and go about your daily routine before leaving the house, it’ll be very difficult to have the phone charged to a point where it’ll comfortably last the rest of the day.

That is where things are different with the Oppo Find 7. Under the same circumstances, with a routine that lasted for around 45 minutes, it was really exciting to see that the phone had charged to 90% already, making for a very helpful feature. The phone also does not get hot when fast charging, and I believe the brick helps with that. Not only does it provide the current, it likely was specially made in order to keep that current from overloading the battery in the device.

Wrap Up

So there you have it – a quick look at the Fast Charging feature of the Oppo Find 7. This is definitely a very useful feature to have, and the good thing is that even if you forget to carry the VOOC charger around with you, you can still charge the phone with a regular charger as well. Especially when you consider that battery technology has not been able to keep up with smartphone tech and demands, it is great that Oppo has found a way to alleviate that issue by tapping into incredibly fast charging technologies.

As 2014 rolls on, we are beginning to see a number of Chinese smartphone manufacturers working their way into the global spotlight, and we couldn’t be more pleased. The last week alone has seen the official announcement of the OnePlus One ‘flagship killer’ and big news from Xiaomi – three new products and an expansion of device sales to 10 new countries.

Xiaomi started out building Android powered smartphones back in 2011. Despite stellar sales in China, Xiaomi’s official global sales have really only managed to expand to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. In a recent announcement, Xiaomi shared their plans to expand to ten new countries by the end of the year, including new markets like Brazil, India, the Philippines and Russia, Xiaomi puts themselves in front of millions of new users.

Xiaomi’s new devices announced this past week do not include smartphones or tablets. With a new WiFi router, Chromecast-competitor media unit and a full blown media server with 1TB of storage, Xiaomi works to expand the ecosystem in your home around your Xiaomi Android powered devices.

Another Chinese smartphone manufacturer that we see making waves on a global scale is a company called OPPO. OPPO has been selling their Find 5 smartphone for a while, added the N1 a while back, announced the updated Find 7 in March and just announced an NFC lense-style camera.

Should the ‘big’ Android phone manufacturers be scared?

Simply put, OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi are hungry companies, looking to stir the pot and compete on the international level. They are continuing a trend that Google has been pushing of late with their Nexus line of devices, making top-notch devices and selling them for affordable prices. Let’s take a look at what these three are bringing to the table:

OPPO offers two variants of their new Find 7 Android powered smartphone. With many similar specs, the higher end of the two sports the 2.5 GHZ Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM and a 5.5-inch display. Sounds pretty familiar so far. OPPO has gone ahead and rocked the boat by using that 5.5-inch display to throw Quad HD at you. That’s 2560 x 1440 resolution, for 538 ppi. Checkout our hands-on to get all the details, but rest assured, the OPPO Find 7 is an impressive device.

Xiaomi – Mi 3 and Redmi Note – starting at $327 and $129

Xiaomi may not be in the race for the most powerful devices around, but with a starting point of just $129 for the Redmi Note, it is no wonder that the company has two phones on top 10 sales lists. The 5-inch, Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM Xiaomi Mi 3 first launched last year. Sales expanded to Singapore in early 2014, marking the first stage in their global expansion led by ex-Googler Hugo Barra.

Xiaomi is looking to expand its Hongmi line, which was renamed Redmi for sales outside of China. In addition to Redmi, Xiaomi is releasing the Redmi Note, which will be available for sale next month in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, with 10 new markets anticipated later this year. The Redmi Note will come with 2GB of RAM on a 1.7GHz processor for $159, or drop down to 1GB of RAM and a 1.4GHz processor for $129.

There are plenty of other smartphone manufacturers around the globe that have been positioning themselves to put phones in pockets. We hope to see big things from Alcatel, Blu and ASUS soon. Lenovo is another name we should keep eyes on, with their recent acquisition of Motorola, the two combined stand to make a significant dent in the global smartphone market. So far, it may be hype more than sales numbers, but 2014 is proving to be a big year for Chinese smartphone Manufacturers.

When you go shopping for a new Android phone, do you consider where it was manufactured before purchasing? If you had to choose from OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi, which brand would you most like to see become a household name?